By Olga Razumovskaya
MOSCOW--Telecoms company VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP) is under
investigation from the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission and the Dutch authorities over its operations in
Uzbekistan, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The SEC has requested documents from the company and on Tuesday
Dutch authorities, including the Dutch public prosecutor's office,
visited the company's office in the Netherlands informing it that
the company was under a criminal investigation over its operations
in Uzbekistan, the company said in the statement.
VimpelCom said that it intends to fully cooperate with these
investigations.
In October the company's Uzbekistan unit was subject to an
"extraordinary audit" by local authorities. At the time VimpelCom's
spokesman said that although the audit wasn't scheduled and was on
top of regular audits by local tax authorities, it didn't cause any
disruption to the business.
The audit came roughly a year after Russia's biggest telecoms
operator, Mobile TeleSystems (MBT), stopped operating in Uzbekistan
and later filed for bankruptcy. At the time, analysts said the
risks of doing business in the country were increasing.
Write to Olga Razumovskaya at olga.razumovskaya@dowjones.com
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